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whoa, this article is a little different from previous "best X", because here we have several options. I think that if the focus of this series is to narrow down the products to one or two, then that guideline should be folowed in all kinds of products.Reply

Thanks for the overview; it was very helpful. Based on reviews from this site, I just purchased an ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe as part of a new build. I was considering the Maximus V Formula but I only have room for a standard ATX motherboard (Antec Nine Hundred Case). With the P8Z77-V Deluxe, I haven't had any issues with it so far.Reply

@madwolfa I don't think AT published any full reviews of mATX Z77 boards. If there were any, they were certainly few and far between. For a while, I was keeping my eyes open for a review of the P8Z77-M, or one of the AsRock mATX, which I was considering for a new build. (I caved and bought a gaming laptop instead.) Original reviews of mATX Z77 boards were awfully hard to find back while I was looking. If I am not mistaken, Tom's Hardware hasn't done (m)any reviews of Z77 mATX, either.Reply

great! I have real interest in mATX boards - the full ATX ones are "purely academical". mITX is cheaper and fits in smaller cases. If you get overclock out of the equation then this is a perfectly reasonable tradeoff.Reply

Look, I love this site, but I don't really buy the idea that there is no demand from readers for Piledriver or FM2 reviews. I always hear bs justifications for focusing on the high-end, like "oh, that is what they sent us", or "this is an enthusiast site", but the fact is many people, including a significant proportion of enthusiasts, enjoy "bang-for-buck".

Many times, you can justify a higher price if you need some feature; other times, you can be much better off going with a value board. The point is, it is helpful to know what the trade-offs are, and for that people need reviews. A site like Anandtech could do this, but I guess it would offend its advertisers. Let's call a spade a spade.Reply

Klug4Pres- Review sites, and AT is no exception, are dependent on the manufacturers to send review samples. They don't always get what they ask for, either. AT takes (justifiable, I think) pride in not letting advertisers influence review content.

Kudos to Ian - if you are a regular reader of his mobo reviews, you will know that he regularly criticizes the inclusion or omission of certain features (hw and sw) based on his judgment of the target audience for a particular board vis-a-vis the asking price.

The fact that Ian is involved with competitive overclocking no doubt influences his perspective, and may even influence which boards vendors send him for review - although the latter may be a more difficult issue to verify/disprove (and if necessary, correct).Reply

Yes, but imagine if they became even more respected as an independent and reliable review site (they are already among the best). They would get more traffic, which would pay for the hardware, and the lost revenue from the occasional disgruntled manufacturer.

Anyway, they don't have to buy _all_ the hardware, still less "every piece of hardware that users requested". There is a middle ground, where they occasionally could buy hardware.Reply

I think your comments about Asus fan controls need to be clear that the 4-pin fan slots on Asus motherboards--other than the one for the CPU--are not "really" 4 pin fan slots because they won't handle splitters at all. They treat even a single splitter into two slots (4 pin one end, 3 pin on one, 4 on the other to avoid sending double info to the motherboard) as full speed only and refuse to adjust them.

Only the CPU 4 pin is capable of actually functioning properly. It's a shame because it means PWM can't just carry your whole system to awesome silence. If only Asus would stop cheaping out on their motherboard fan subsystem. Of course, to compel them to stop, we'd have to have reviewers who actually checked it.

I have an ASUS Maximus V Formula motherboard in a Corsair Obsidian 650D chassis, with a 280mm rad on top (2 fans, pull configuration), and a 200mm rad in front (2 fans, push/pull). The top two fans are connected via Y-splitter to the CHA_FAN2 header at the top of the motherboard, and the front two fans are connected via a Y-splitter to the CHA_FAN1 header at the bottom of the motherboard.

All of my radiator fans connected via Y-splitters control beautifully, with speeds ramping up and down two well defined curves that I created and named "Top Rad Fans" and "Front Rad Fans" using the FAN Xpert 2 software in AI Suite II. At system idle, the fans operate at minimum speed (virtually silent), but ramp up smoothly to full speed at load, with a healthy 4.8GHz OC.

I'm very happy with the fan controls on ASUS boards. That was one of the primary reasons for buying the ASUS Maximus V Formula. It was also a significant factor when purchasing my son the ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe a couple of weeks ago.Reply